


Villains of Circumstance

by orphan_account



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-05 23:20:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21216713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Vax is an aspiring student of Art and Design working in his twin's bakery/coffeehouse, the Slayer's Cake. But when he meets the quiet, gentle businessman Percy on a shift he's covering, little does he know how his life is going to change.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> hey what's good i'm rolling in late w/ starbucks but i'm here
> 
> lyrics are from the song that shares a title with the fic 
> 
> i'm terrible at summaries so sorry

One

_ I miss you now, what's come over me? _

The Slayer’s Cake was not a bad place to work, so long as you didn’t mind a few very, very early starts. And this was one of them. Vax is opening this morning so his twin sister Vex and her girlfriend, Keyleth, can enjoy a lie in the morning after their anniversary, and with every yawn he curses himself more and more for being enough of a pushover to have agreed to do it. It’s the third day of Brussendar, and dawn is slowly beginning to peak her head over the roofs of the houses. It’s not cold, at least, which is all he can really ask for. Vax is more the late evening shift kind of guy, so the early hours are already disagreeable.

Until the actual opening at 6am, it would just be Vax setting everything up, putting out the bakes from the departing bakery team (a lavender tiefling who he couldn’t name, given he didn’t think they’d ever met, and a young half-orc who was supposedly excellent with bread) and setting up the coffee machine for the day. At Six on the dot, Jester, a tiefling woman with delicately curling horns arrives with a smile and a wave as she sheds her headphones and disappears into the back to run the kitchen. It was gonna be a long day if it was just the two of them. He didn’t know her well enough to really have a proper conversation through the little window, even if she was chatty and friendly. 

A little after half past six, having served only the poor, unfortunate souls unlucky enough to start their jobs around this time too, a man walks in, looking undoubtedly as tired as Vax feels. The pale skin under his eyes is a deep purple from exhaustion, and there’s smudges of ink across his cheeks and his hands, through which show pale freckles. Despite this, he’s nicely dressed in a crisp white dress shirt and neat black tie, top button undone, the only part of him besides the ink that’s even slightly out of place. What’s striking about him, apart from those piercing blue eyes, is the shock of pure white hair atop his head. It doesn’t look dyed, not when his eyebrows (and from a glance, from what he can tell behind those round glasses) and lashes are the same brilliant white. 

Vax is jolted out of his examination by the man’s almost sad smile as he approaches the counter, looking over the menu. Jester pops up in the window, beaming at him and the man smiles and nods in greeting. 

“Perrrrcyyy! Nice to see you. Busy day?”

“Could say that, yes. Lovely to see you as always, Miss Lavorre.”

Jester gives an almost girlish giggle and immediately starts grabbing things down and heading back towards her flat top as Vax watches, confused. 

"So… What'll it be?"

Percy, as he appears to be called takes Vax in and smiles softly, extending a callused, scarred and ink-stained hand to him in greeting. 

"I don't believe we've had the pleasure. Percy, as you've probably guessed. Nice to meet you."

Vax stares at his hand long enough for it to be weird before internally cursing himself and taking Percy's to shake. 

"Vax'ildan. People just call me Vax."

Percy smiles a little wider. Gods be damned, his smile is lovely and Vax curses himself for being tired and weak enough for it to make him smile back in response. Percy lets go of him and takes a step back. 

"Well, it's a hot chocolate and a cinnamon french toast. Eating in, if you don't mind me taking up space."

Vax looks at him blankly. He's a paying customer, why would he and Jester mind him taking up space? 

"O-of course not. There's plenty of room, and you're a customer. That'll be four silver."

_ This guy is weird,  _ is the thought that crosses Vax's mind as he pays using a card. He waits long enough to take his drink from Vax before heading to one of the quieter corners and sitting there, fiddling with his phone. Jester emerges from the kitchen herself to take his plate over, and Vax feels what he could almost call a pang of jealousy as they chat.  _ Why am I jealous?  _ It could possibly be that the guy is fucking gorgeous and is sat chatting with his coworker in a way that Vax immediately wishes  _ he  _ was doing with the gorgeous white haired businessman, but he drowns that thought as a rush enters and Jester returns, ducking behind the counter to help with coffees. 

Percy brings his plate and mug to the counter and sits them there as he leaves with a smile, waving farewell to Jester through the window as he goes. Jester props her head on her hands as she leans through the window with a grin that makes Vax feel  _ dread _ . 

" He was asking about you."

"Oh?" Vax keeps his voice casually disinterested, but it's probably something Jester will see through in seconds. It would be hard not to be disinterested in someone pretty who was polite and had tipped a full gold piece on an order costing a fraction of it. "What about?"

Her sharp little grin is immediate. "He was asking if you were new because he had never seen you before and I said you're the brother of the owner Vex and he said he thought so because you both look identical almost and-"

"Take a breath, Jess." 

She pouts at him, but pauses a second all the same. 

"Well, then he asked when you normally work and I told him you're usually on afternoons but swapped with Vex today and then we chatted about drawing and then I had to come back here."

Vax frowns. 

"Why was he asking when I work?"

"I think he  _ fancies  _ you," Jester says, grinning. "He smiled at you a lot for him."

Vax mulls that over as he rinses out a milk pot for the next rush. 

"Does he not come in later in the day or he strictly a breakfast guy?"

Jester shakes her head."That wouldn't be his breakfast, he works some sort of night job? That's him going home. He's usually very tired."

Ah. Makes sense. 

The rest of the shift passes without issue, but he's still relieved when his relief, Kynan arrives and he's able to pass over the keys and shrug out of his apron. If he was lucky Vex and Keyleth would have gone out with their dog, Trinket or would be downstairs in Keyleth's flower shop so Vax could crawl back into bed with no judgement. 

\---

His bed is a welcome sight when he crawls into it, Vex, Keyleth and Trinket are thankfully absent, so there’s no one to judge him for immediately shedding his binder and grabbing the first tub of ice cream he finds in the freezer and vanishing into his room to relax. He opens his laptop and immediately checks his emails, slightly disheartened by the lack of email from the University of Emon. He’s been awaiting a response to his submitted portfolio for a few days and there’s been nothing. It was only supposed to be two weeks of waiting, but they were rapidly approaching three and he was starting to get antsy. 

His laptop makes a soft noise as a message comes through from his friend Pike on his messenger, and he clicks over to the tab, reading it. Checking to see if he’d heard. He sighs and taps out the response  _ Not yet.  _ Within seconds she sends a sad emoji and says they’d be crazy not to take him. He bites his tongue and doesn’t reply. He doesn’t think he’s going to on the strength of his portfolio alone, not when half the applicants all had scholarships and internships under their belts. Instead he picks at his ice cream until his sister comes home and they can both curl up on the couch and watch some god awful reality dating show called  _ The Gentleman  _ and act like it’s a lot deeper than it is. Or at least, that’s what he claims when he justifies watching it, despite enjoying it. 

Vex asks about his application too, but thankfully his twin leaves it after he shakes his head. At least his twin would allow him that. The rest of his afternoon is spent hanging out with her until they order a pizza and Keyleth comes and joins them, settling happily on the other side of Vex. Vax soon slopes off to bed, eager to regain his lost sleep and get ready for another day at the Slayer’s Cake tomorrow. But he finds his mind going back to the man with the white hair, his delicate freckles, the perfect curve of his soft pink lips and- 

And that’s enough of that, he tells himself, sternly.


	2. Two

Two

_ We’re hostages of geography _

Vax checks his savings almost immediately when he gets up. He’s not sure if he’ll get the scholarships he’s applied for, but if he has a decent fund started now at least he’ll have the basis. It’s a smaller amount than he’d been hoping for, but a damn good start. He’s tempted almost, to see if he can either pick up more shifts or a part time job for when he’s not at the bakery or… Perhaps open commissions again. But that wasn’t a guaranteed source of income at the best of times. 

The next part of his morning is always the most nerve wracking the last few weeks. He opens his email to check for a message from the admissions board. It’s become a daily tradition since he sent in his application and his portfolio. He knows as soon as he leaves his room Vex will always ask if he’s heard back. It had been the same when they’d been waiting to hear back from her business lender if she had gotten the loan with Keyleth (and Zahra, although she was a distant partner who dealt with the books) to open the Bakery. 

A chill settles across him as he sees _ University of Emon _ pop up in his received emails, and he takes a deep breath before clicking into it. He has to read it a few times before the contents sink in. _ We regret to inform you… An excellent portfolio but a lack of professional background... _Well. That’s a rejection letter if ever he saw one. He closes his laptop and lies back on his bed. He tries to console himself with the thought that he’ll have more time to get better savings, but it doesn’t do much to cheer him up. Instead, he lies there in bed for another few hours moping until it’s absolutely time to get up, shower and dress for his shift. 

Vex isn’t there when he steps out to put his shoes on, and he has a distant memory that she’s at a meeting at the bakery this morning. He’ll have to break the news to her there. It’s not something he’s looking forward to, he thinks glumly, as he grabs his apron from the side and throws it into his backpack. 

The Slayer’s Cake is quiet when he arrives, just Jester in the back and Beau out front. She looks pleased to see him, and starts immediately stripping her apron as he dumps his bag in the storeroom and comes back out front. He’s pleasantly surprised to see Percy sat in the back corner of the cafe, headphones on and laptop open in front of him. The white haired man raises a hand in greeting and Vax almost flushes, waving back briefly before turning to hide. 

_ Gods, Vax’ildan. One pretty guy comes in and you turn into a blushing mess. _He busies himself with the steamer and the coffee grinder, needlessly topping up the beans. When he turns back, he yelps to see Percy stood there at the counter, shooting him an amused grin.

“Sorry, didn’t think you’d be so jumpy.”

Vax sighs angrily at himself and sets down the bag. “I’m not-”

He takes a breath.

“I’m not, usually, you just caught me off guard, that’s all. What can I get you?”

“Black coffee, no sugar, please. I was hoping I’d meet you again.”

Vax blushes at that. It’s an immediate source of embarrassment and he’s extremely glad Jester is currently engrossed in decorating a cake they have on order to not pay attention to him (and perhaps worse: potentially rat him out to Vex) as he goes a very light shade of pink. Percy, thankfully, either does not mention it or doesn’t even realise. 

“Oh. Well. Same here.”

_ Smooth, Vax. _

“So what brings you here in the afternoon?”

Percy shrugs. Vax sets about making the coffee he’s ordered, turning on the grinder. 

“I like it here. Had a meeting earlier today and decided to come work here instead. Coffee’s far better than the office’s, any day.”

He even has a nice smile. This really, really isn’t fair, Vax thinks as he sets about making his coffee, the beans ground. In short order, he has the coffee sat on the counter between them. Without saying anything, Percy hands him a Gold Piece and before Vax can even dig for change he waves for him not to. 

“So what do you do, Percy?”

“Oh, this and that.” He grins, picking up the coffee and taking a sip, but not moving away from the counter. He wears a heavy silver ring set with a white stone on the middle finger of his right hand, and for a second Vax thinks he sees a carving in it, but before he can get too much of a look that perfect hand is whisked away again. 

“Evasive.”

“Perhaps,” he says, smiling. Then he relents. “I’m an Engineer. Work as a designer for a big company.”

“Oh.”

Well. That made things even more interesting. A shared interest in design. 

“I’m hoping to study design, actually. At the University of Emon. Or rather… Was. Hoping, that is.”

He scuffs his feet awkwardly. Why the fuck had he just mentioned that? 

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that, Vax.” 

His smile turns sympathetic and it almost makes him melt. Gods be damned. He was definitely gonna hope this was not going to be a frequent occurrence and that the pretty stranger was going to go back to coming in exclusively in the mornings when Vax was not working. He leaves though, returning back to his table.

“Thanks,” he calls to the man’s back as he retreats to his corner seat and settles back in front of his laptop, suddenly intent on what he’s doing. Vax finds himself unable to continue the conversation as a group of tourists enter and start putting orders through as the afternoon rush begins. 

Later on, Percy packs up and leaves, bringing his empty mugs up with a warm little grin. As he does, the door at the top of the stairs opens and their landlord comes down them, trailed by an almost stressed and worried looking Vex. He waits until she shakes his hand and the man leaves before raising his eyebrows at her questioningly.

“Later.” She turns to Percy. “Fancy seeing you in the light of day!”

He shakes her hand, and Vax feels a weird flare of jealousy in the pit of his stomach that he’s shook her hand and not his. He tries to drown it as best he can.

“I know, right? Most unusual. How’s Keyleth?”

“Oh she’s great. I’ll have to tell her I saw you out in daylight, so you definitely haven’t succumbed to vampirism.”

There’s the briefest flash of something on his face before he maintains a grin. Vex doesn’t seem to have noticed, but he resolves to ask Kiki more about him when he inevitably sees her later. If she knows anything, that is. More likely she’s just met him in the cafe, same as he and Vex. The white haired man smiles at Vax as he leaves, almost shyly, and after the bell above the door has stopped ringing Vex turns to him.

“Spill, Scrawny.”

Well he certainly doesn’t want to do that.

“I got rejected from the school.”

Her eyes, alight with mischief suddenly change and become sad, and she pulls her twin into a hug. 

“Oh Vax. I’m so sorry, darling. Did they tell you why?”

He picks at the edge of a nail. “They… Loved my portfolio, but… I don’t have any background in the field for the year’s internship you have after second year, and it’s a preferred requirement. No friends to call in favours with either, so I guess I won’t be getting in this year.”

He smiles sadly and she hugs him again. 

“Well, they’re idiots for not taking you. Anyone else could see that.”

He squeezes her back, smiling into his twin’s shoulder. She always knew how to cheer him up. 

“Thanks, Stubby.”

“Don’t mention it. Shall we get pizza with Kiki tonight?”

“Of course. How did your meeting go with the landlord?”

She grimaces. 

“That good, huh?”

“I… Need to discuss a few things with Keyleth and Zahra, but… After that I’ll be able to let you know. Sorry, Vax.”

“Don’t worry about it, sis.”

The rest of the day goes by fairly quietly, Jester and Vex testing a few new cake recipes they’ve been thinking up, and eventually Kiki comes from the flower shop to meet them, summoned by the promise of pizza at The Griffon, a pub they’ve come to love for its pizza, of all things. He mentions Percy to her and she shrugs, stating she’s met him a few times in the morning and he’s put in a few large orders for the company he works for a few times and that’s it. They hand over the keys to Molly and Fjord, who lock them out before disappearing into the bakery at the back to bake tomorrow’s loaves and cakes. 

  
They head up to the pub on the corner and pile into a booth, ordering a large Veggie Supreme with extra mushrooms (Keyleth’s favourite) and a medium Pepperoni between Vax and Vex along with extra slices of the Veggie to share. Conversation is largely commiserating Vax’s rejection from college, but it’s nice, at least, to be able to share the sadness with his family. 


End file.
